Monk and the Chi

Argent Dawn
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Hello there friends!

I have been roleplaying for a couple of weeks now and I am having a grand time! I thought I will try a different character, but I have got a couple of questions that I hope you will be able to answer!

  1. What is the deal with monks fighting with bare fists? How do they damage opponents who wear plate? I read somewhere that they can use Chi to imbue their fists and feet with it and it hits like a massive mace?

  2. What is Chi? I read that it is the spirit of a person? How does monk control it?

  3. If monk is using Chi to fight with his bare fists and feet, how long can he fight this way? I mean if another magic user uses his magic he is exhausted and it takes time to recover.

  4. Does a monk have another way of blocking an attack from a sword per say if he cannot dodge it? Can block it with his hands if he uses chi? Or would he use his own weapon to such a thing?

Thank you in advance ladies and gents <3

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Monks use Chi for a number of purposes, and it is the driving force behind all their magic. Yes, one of the primary purposes of Chi is to make your bare hands and feet hit much harder, able to compete with weapons.

Chi is Spirit, that of the person using it. It can be thought of as akin to shamanism and indeed they have many things in common, but where a shaman draws on their surroundings for power, a monk draws on their own spirit for that power. Magic in wow is generally not that deeply explained, in terms of how it is actually drawn upon. But for Chi, it is true that it is based on mastery of one’s self.

Varies significantly with individual monks, no doubt. To play it safe I would assume they tire at similar rates to other characters, but well-trained monks could well go much further.

You can do either. Chi can be used to form shields around yourself, dampen harm, and indeed, monks have specific blocking techniques (previously represented ingame through the Sparring ability). It would not surprise me to see monks use other means like briefly hardening one’s arm with Chi in order to block.

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I just pretend I’m the Ironfist.

Works for me. Substitute ‘K’un-Lun’ with ‘Kun-Lai’.

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Vol’jin looked at the spear. The head had clearly pierced his spine and ruptured his bowels. To make things worse, it had a broad cross guard. They couldn’t slide him off the spear, and it had lodged too deep in the wall to pull it free. “Hold still. I be knowing a spell…”

The man shook his head and hissed as the elder monk felt around the exit wound. “No. I’m done. We did good. I can die happy.”

(…)

The man stiffened as the spear wavered. Something behind him snapped. He fell forward, and Taran Zhu caught him. Vol’jin helped the monk lower him to the floor. Tyrathan had closed his eyes, so Vol’jin didn’t know if he could hear, but he spoke anyway. “I not gonna let you die. I didn’t get the one that killed you, and you be owing me an arrow for Garrosh.”

Vol’jin pressed his hands around the wound, tight to the spear blade. He nodded to Taran Zhu. The pandaren wiggled the haft gently, then slid the blade free. A good four inches of the spearhead had remained in the wall. The bloody edge looked as if it had been worried so much it had parted for metal fatigue. How the monk had broken the blade off, Vol’jin had no clue, and he had no time to think on it.

In this scene from Shadow of the Horde, Tyrathan’s been impaled by a mogu spear into a pillar so deep there’s no way to remove the spear from the wall. Taran Zhu breaks the spear blade in half with chi.

Khal’ak’s right hand came up and whipped forward before Vol’jin could shout a warning. A slender knife spun through the air at the eldest monk. As it sped toward its target, she scooped a sword up from the ground and charged
for Taran Zhu.

The pandaren monk’s right paw came up in a circular parry, from inside toward out. He batted the dagger away with the back of his paw, redirecting it.
In the blink of an eye, it quivered in a Zandalari, lodging in his throat before the victim or his companions had consciously realized their leader had thrown it, and well before any of them had taken the chance to heed the monk’s warning.

Stunned by unfolding events, they remained rooted in place.

Here you see him de- and reflecting projectiles with his bare hands.

As the mogu fell forward, Taran Zhu punched up and out. His spear-pawed strike pierced the mogu’s breastplate with a high-pitched pop. His arm disappeared to the elbow in the mogu’s chest. Stiffened fingers dented the backplate from the inside out.

And here you see him impale through a mogu’s chestplate – which previously is described as being unbelievably thick in the novel, through the mogu himself (and they’re some enormously muscular dudes) and dent the plate on the way out. All with his bare hand again.

A lot of the novel is written from Vol’jin’s point of view, so they keep the magic of the monks more mystified as there’s no visual cue other than the great feats they pull off from an outsider’s perspective. Unless you really go all out with your chi, a lot of their enhanced abilities from a lore perspective don’t carry some visual cue to warn you of what’s about to happen.

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Brilliant replies! Thank you very much guys.

Dang! Monks have swag… They are stronger than I thought…

I think I have a decent idea on how to go about my pandaren monk :slight_smile:
The only thing I am still not sure about is if I am joining the Horde or the Alliance.

Mucho <3 gang!

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Keep in mind that Taran Zhu is an extremely powerful lore character, and his abilities should by no means be considered standard.

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Oh, but of course :slight_smile: as long as I have a chance against a sword or an axe I am fine. Not going to run around stabbing people with my fingers :laughing:

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You should, it’ll be unique and fun. \o/

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In fact, I believe Spear Hand Strike is exactly that.

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I thought it was a strike to opponents throat with your hand resembling a spear head so he cannot say the incantation to spell (cast it)?

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Yes. Which seems to be done with your fingers, stabbing like a spear!

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Wouldn’t want to be silenced by a monk…

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I dunno about that.

Touch of death, touch of karma, spear hand strike, mystic touch and pressure points is exactly that. It’s a very precise hit. Of course too strong for RP since monks could just kill anyone in that way.

Since your questions were already answered I have another point I wanna bring up: the brews.

Ingame mechanic wise we have tons of brews that do a lot of work. Playing (no spoilers here) through the monk campaign will also show you the power of brews.

Ironskin brew - allows to not feel much of the damage you take.

Fortifying brew - “turns your skin to stone”.

Purifying brew - basically if your character gets cursed, you can heal it.

And much much more in just the meaning for RP.

Of course you also got explanations in spells by hitting people. “Blackout strike - Strike with a blast of Chi energy.”

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Is it cool to use Pandaren racial skill in RP fight to disable your opponent for a brief time? Or any trouble maker you might come across?

I meant actually killing people in RP fights with my fingers :slight_smile:

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As a pandaren monk?

Have you ever seen the last airbender animated series?

There is one scene of uncle Iroh who comes close to a pandaren, body and mindwise. A random thief in an alley tries to rob him with a knife. Iroh just looks at his stance and goes like: “What are you trying to do? Robbing someone? With that pose?” as he then proceeds to grab the thief by his wrist, disarm him and throw him onto the ground.

Then he invites the guy to slurp some tea with him and talk about his life decisions.

This is an accurate represensation of how I think most monks / pandaren would react.

Though if the fight can’t be avoided pandaren usually don’t kill their opponents since they see the good in people. And sure, in someway it is fine to use the pandaren racials as a guideline what your pandaren character can do. Especially an old pandaren that trained the way of the monk his entire life.

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Actually that was the idea I had for my Pandaren Monk.

Killing is the last resort. Very very last resort.
He loves to fight (spar), in a friendly manner and no hard feelings.
Friendly to everyone (including Death Knights :D).

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